Vaidyanathan celebrates maiden podium in Portugal

Ameya Vaidyanathan secured second place in race one - Credit: FOTOSPEEDY

Ameya Vaidyanathan started his sophomore campaign in EuroFormula Open with a podium finish at the Circuito do Estoril, finishing a close second to Harrison Scott.

The Indian racer made a good start but was unable to pass either Scott or Nikita Troitskiy into turn one, but once the latter dropped down the field thanks to front wing damage, Vaidyanathan was able to keep Scott in view, although he was unable to make a move for the lead.

The Carlin Motorsport driver ultimately finished 1.368 seconds shy of Scott, but both had drawn well away from the rest of the field – Matheus Iorio was 11.363 seconds further back in third.

“I thought I had a pretty good start into turn one; I got ahead of Scott, I’m not sure about Troitskiy, but they had the inside line so it was difficult to get them in the run to turn two,” said Vaidyanathan.

“I was in p3 during the safety car and I had a good restart, but again was in a similar position and couldn’t make the most of it, and was side by side with Scott again but couldn’t make it stick.

“After I took second we were able to break away. I think considering the gap in qualifying to Scott it’s good to see we were able to stay with him and close that gap and also get fastest lap.”

Vaidyanathan could only finish tenth during Sunday’s second race after suffering a puncture on the opening lap and dropping to the rear of the field. He managed to move up a few places but could not find a way passed either Iorio or Tarun Reddy, with the trio battling hard for position in the closing stages.